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Mr. Cookie and I love chocolate, especially truffles and hot chocolate! There have been so many chocolate related memories intertwined in our relationship: a romantic email about hot chocolate in the autumn, sipping homemade hot chocolate by a fire on a cold December night, making chocolate covered strawberries at Thanksgiving, handmaking truffles for Valentine’s Day, sipping the best hot chocolate in the world in Brugge, Belgium, and the list goes on and on…
I thought this would be a great favor for our wedding — to share with our guests not only the deep love that we share for one another, but our love of all things chocolate. Now to my dilemma, should the favors be chocolates or truffles?
Favors are not a big line item on our budget — about $100 maximum. I want them to be special, tasty, and not break the bank. My first idea was individually wrapped pieces of Cote d’ Or chocolate from Belgium. When we traveled to Belgium on our European adventure, we visited many chocolate shops in the chocolate filled city of Brugge. We had the best cup of hot chocolate ever at Bar Chocolate (the menu boasted 300 different flavors of hot chocolate!). Cote d’ Or is to Belgium as Hershey’s is to the United States, except 100 times better.
I also have a scrumptious homemade hot chocolate recipe, which uses vanilla bean, that I made for Mr. Cookie on our first Christmas together. So I was going to buy a 12 box case of 24 individually wrapped Cote d’ Or “Lait” Mignonettes from World Wide Chocolate. Each guest would get three pieces with the hot chocolate recipe and the story of why it’s important to us; however, the cost breaks our budget. The case is $99.00 alone. Now, add on “hot weather” shipping for $5.99 and the 2nd day air shipping of $32.95, which is required to ship to Colorado, and the cost becomes unjustifiable.
Idea number two: Truffles. I love to cook and Mr. Cookie loves to eat, so I thought why not personalize the favors and make truffles. I have a pretty good truffle recipe that I made for Mr. Cookie on our first Valentine’s Day. Most of the ingredients I have in my kitchen - my only concern is time and space. Truffles are a time intensive desert, and I don’t know if I have enough space in my fridge to make almost 300 of them. I also have this nightmare that they will melt in the hour and half drive to Breckenridge. Although, these handmade delicacies would add a very personal and handmade touch to the wedding. Plus, the favors (whatever is chosen) will double as escort cards!
Let’s take a vote!
You said you had a very special homemade hot chocolate recipe right? I’m assuming that you make your own mix and then you add cream or milk right? What if you made the dry portion of the recipe and put it into pretty cellophane bags and then tied that up with a pretty ribbon and a copy of your recipe (and instructions of how to make the hot chocolate you have prepared)?? The dry goods i would think would be able to be made well enough in advance that you wouldn’t have to do it just days before and I would think it would be pretty inexpensive. If you had any money left over you could give some nice mugs to go along with it?
Hi!
I know the Cote d’Or Chocolate “Mignonette” that you are referring to (I’m from Belgium)… They are really tiny you know… You might not want these for favors. I love LaborDayBride’s idea!! Was trying to find an idea how to “give” them your recipe, this is great!
Might another good European chocolate fit the bill, of the Cote d’Or is too expensive? Maybe Ritter Sport or Milch? Galler?
Or could you buy 8 boxes instead of 12, and give each guest 2 Mignonettes instead of 3?
Whatever you choose, I am sure it will be scrumptious!
I learned about http://www.truffletrolley.com/ from a weddingbee featured wedding.
The prices are pretty good, and you can pick the number of truffles, the color of the box and ribbon, and add a personalize note to every one.
I got these for my wedding based on the successful transaction of this other weddingbee reader, so other truffle fans might also be interested.
Is it possible you have a local candy store you could place an order with? It’s possible because they buy in bulk you could get a better deal from them. I know in boston, we have a candy store in the north end (Dairy Fresh Candy) that’s family run and they get all kinds of european chocolates and you can just place an order right with them. Might be a little more expensive than $99 for the case, but you might come out ahead on the shipping cost.
I am with LaborDayBride on this one–i voted for chocolate because although it’s expensive, it’s one less thing you have to do to prep for the wedding. But i LOVE the idea of making your own hot chocolate “prep” in cute little bags!
All of you have fabulous ideas!
@LaborDayBride: That’s actually what I had planned for the chocolates, since they are the only dry good in the recipe besides vanilla bean. And @mrsbic: is right it is one less thing I have to prep before the wedding.
But the vote seems to push more for truffles. @Cricket: I’m going to do some more investigating, because this is a great resource for truffles!
I would like to re-vote! I think you should do the hot chocolate recipe 
I’m not 100% certain, but I think you can freeze truffles for up to a month. So you can work on them in batches. A cooler and ice packs should keep them cool on the drive to the wedding.
As a guest, I would appreciate a homemade item more. …plus, I love truffles.
They’re both lovely gifts, so I vote whichever is the least amount of work and the least expensive for you.
Have a truffle making party at a friend’s house the week before and use her refrigerator.
Two days before my wedding, I personally hand-dipped hundreds of chocolate covered pretzels to go on my candy buffet. Because I love to cook, I found it to be stress relieving in a way. But the only way I was able to do it was because I had given myself a DIY deadline (which has been praised to death here over the last week) and I had the whole week before the wedding off. I say go for the homemade since you seem to love to cook, but only if you’ll look at it as something you want/get to do instead of a burden.
And two words for the transport: dry ice!
Oh, the taste bud memories that come to life over Cote d’Or! I used to live in Rotterdam, and I’d pick up Cote d’Or bars at the grocery store every week and keep them in my bedside table for constant snacking. The joy!
Both of your ideas are absolutely fabulous, meaningful, and would be enjoyed by your guests. So the question becomes whether the labor of making the truffles is more valuable to you than the extra $$ you’d spend for the chocolates…. If you do go the truffle route, Katya’s party idea is a great one!!
(Oh, and p.s. — have you worked out the cost of that number of truffles? Good-quality chocolate and other ingredients are pricey, so maybe the savings aren’t as much as you’d think???)
Hey, they sell fantastic chocolate truffles at Whole Foods for $5/box. No muss, no fuss… the only possible problem is that they, like other truffles, get awfully soft and slightly melty at warm room temp.
[...] project that I didn’t blog about before the wedding was our favors. Originally, the idea was either truffles or hot chocolate packets, but as my budget crept closer to zero both of those ideas got cut. I even thought about not having [...]
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Mrs. Cookie, Denver Age and Occupation: 25, Nonprofit Fundraiser/Theatre Designer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Financial Analyst Engagement Date: September 2007 Wedding Date: September 2008 Blogging Since: May 8, 2008 Venue: Ten Mile Station About Me: With a degree in Theatre I never realized that planning a wedding was a lot like Theatre Management, until I started planning my own. I am a coffee addict, especially Starbucks' Grande Mochas, yummy! I love to cook (especially chocolate chip cookies for my honey), travel to exotic places, and be creative. As a couple, Mr. Cookie and I are extremely practical, down to earth, and children at heart. We live in a cozy abode with our adorable Pomeranian, and love to play board games and watch movies into the evening.
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